Record(s) o’ the Month – May 2016

It’s that time again. And by “that time,” I mean the time when Steel Druhm throws a public fit because his little slice of nostalgia isn’t going to be the Record o’ the Month. He will complain loudly in the comments. He will post rebuttals and whine. But alas, this month it was pretty obvious who the RotM should belong to. Break out your flamethrowers! Commence the wailing and/or gnashing of teeth! The misery is gonna get Biblical up in here.

But before you don your sackcloth and begin rolling around on the ground I want to take a minute to note two things. First, we are still taking applications for writing unless you already have a successful acting career. See the details in this post and the deadline is 11:59 PM June 4th, 2016, Eastern Standard Time.

Secondly, I want to make a note that the 7th anniversary of AngryMetalGuy.com passed us on the 27th of May. (If you’re pedantic, it was the 19th of May, but my first reviews were posted on the 27th.) I’m working on a commemorative post, but since I’m three reviews late right now, it’s tough for me to know precisely when that’s gonna get done. So let me say this: 7 years is a long fucking time to keep a blog. Watching writers come and go has been instructive. In a way,Druhm is right: only the weirdos stick it out this long.

But AngryMetalGuy.com is becoming an institution unto itself and I think that’s cool. And as cliché as it sounds, we’re no institution if we have no readers, and the fact that some of you have been reading this blog since its inception blows my mind. So thanks for reading—both new and old readers—and thanks for commenting. And you should all thank Druhm and Madam X and all the other writers for keeping this little folly of mine afloat.

Now on with the wailing and gnashing of teeth!

A seventy-five minute album does not suit thrash well. That is, of course, unless that thrash is Vektor and the album is Terminal Redux. Unlike the gentlemen who reviewed the album, this was my first real listen to Vektor and from the tribute to The Lion King on “Charging the Void” to the space noises of the 1337 “Recharging the Void” Terminal Redux is a turbocharged, technical thrashterpiece. Few albums deserve to be a double album, but Terminal Redux really, really does. Luke Saunders, while drooling down the front of his shirt, wrote that Terminal Redux is “admirable in ambition, nearly flawless in execution and a wildly imaginative journey through a wormhole into another dimension of hi-tech thrash excellence.” Now that’s a sticker blurb, Earache.

Runner(s) Up:

Vainaja // Verenvalaja — Ickle Grymmykins loves Vainaja more than you love your mom. And for good reason, Verenvalaja is whatever the doom metal equivalent of a full frontal assault is. Maybe it’s like that movie about the demon or ghost or whatever that follows you around really, really, really slowly until it finally catches up to you and you die. I guess the point is that Verenvalaja is like that: slow, creeping, but deadly. Add to it a fucking ridiculously lush and gorgeous vinyl mix (DR14!!) and Grymm‘s fanboy rantings start to make a lot of sense. His fervor reached a fever pitch when he ejaculated that this album is “Essential! […] May has turned into a monstrous month for metal music, [but] Verenvalaja is leading the choir with perverse confidence and sickening conviction.” He ain’t wrong.

Messa // Belfry — Steel Druhm reviewed another slab o’ Nostalgiacore in Messa‘s unique take on Scooby Doom and didn’t leave unharmed. Nay, indeed, these Italians’ ponderous approach and the throaty vocal performance from the ethereal Sara left the venerable Druhm in a state of shock. He’s been yelling “RECORD OF THE MONTH” at me every time he signs online; a clear sign of the obsessive and repetitive tendencies of a person suffering serious trauma. This might be because he felt pretty blindsided about Belfry‘s enchanting melodies, otherworldly vocals, and amazing feel. In his own words, “Messa is another slobberknocking Italian doom band nobody’s heard of, but their name will be on people’s tongues soon enough. Belfry is weird, inventive, ingenious and most importantly, catchy as hell.” This is easily RotM material, it just happened to get released against a ridiculous field.